Border Security Karina Ordonez Discusses Border Security

Border Security

Karina Ordonez discusses border security issues that relate to homeland security, specifically the Arizona/Sedona portion of the U.S. / Mexico border. Although it is only a small portion of the actual border, it is currently the most porous part of the border. Therefore, as strategies are implemented to deal with border security, they are going to have to deal with this border. Despite that fact, Ordonez cautions against focusing solely on the border when discussing the border and border security. She makes the point that the border is generally a transition area; people pass through border areas to other areas to find jobs in the interior of the country. Therefore, immigration reform that focuses solely on border security does not address the reason that many people are illegally immigrating to the United States, which is farm work in the interior states. In order to fix the issue illegal immigration, immigration reform has to concentrate on job availability, not simply porous borders. As a result, Ordonez appears to support immigration reform that would permit people who are in the United States to work and contribute to the economy to pursue easier paths to citizenship or residency, while, at the same time, supporting strict enforcement of current immigration laws with regards to those who are not contributing positively to the economy and those who are committing crimes.

One of the points that Karina Ordonez makes is that the border is dynamic and has its own culture (2012). She points out that families are separated by the border, and that water rights and geographic issues are impacted by policies on both sides of the border. As a result, she suggests that neither the United States nor Mexico can develop policy to truly control the border area because of the unique culture that has developed in that area. She also does not seem to believe that the issue of border security can ever be divorced from the larger political and cultural issues, such as the ability of families to stay together. As a result, she suggests that border security will remain an emotional issue, which will keep it relevant as a hot-topic political issue, as well.

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To me, there is no question that the Patriot Act infringes civil rights. The civil right that is most endangered by the Patriot Act is the Fourth Amendment right protecting citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Traditionally, this right has been read to require warrants for government searches. In the past, there have been narrow exceptions to the warrant requirement. The most notable of those exceptions was the exigent circumstances requirement, which would, for example, allow the police to enter a private residence if they were in pursuit of a kidnapper who had fled with a victim inside that residence. However, generally, when a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy, a warrant was required to conduct a search. The Patriot Act eliminates many of those Fourth Amendment protections.